Sailing Glossary

A-D

  • on or in a vessel; synonymous with “on board.”

  • towards the stern.

  • resting on or touching the ground or bottom.

  • toward the stern

  • a heavy metal hook designed to prevent or slow the drift of a boat, attached by a chain. Also called a hook. Heritage had two anchors at the bow, one of which was a Danforth.

  • a designated place for boats to anchor.

  • while anchored, crew members are assigned to ensure that the anchor holds in rough weather or when the captain isn’t sure the anchor will hold.

  • back of the boat or opposite of ahead

  • to throw out seawater or rainwater that has collected in a vessel.

  • weight placed in the bottom of a boat to give it stability.

  • with all the sails down.

  • the widest point of the boat. Heritage had a ten-foot beam.

  • to fix (a running top) around a cleat, rock, pin, or other object, to secure it.

  • a bed on a boat or a space in a port or harbor, where a boat can tie up. Heritage could sleep seven — uncomfortably.

  • the compartment at the bottom of the boat’s hull, where water collects to be pumped out later. In the case of Heritage, again and again and again.

  • the stand on which the ship’s compass is mounted.

  • the post mounted on the ship’s bow to attach a line either to tie to a dock or to be towed.

  • a nautical pulley.

  • a pole with a hook on one end designed to grab anything beyond reach, or to fend off another vessel.

  • the senior crewman of the deck, responsible for the ship’s hull and all its components, including its rigging, anchors, cables, sails deck maintenance, and small boat operations (as in manning the dinghy!)

  • a spar to support the foot of a fore-and-aft-sail.

  • the part of a ship’s hull that is between the load line and the waterline when the ship is not loaded.

  • a swath of canvas, used to suspend a person from a rope to perform work aloft.

  • the front of the boat.

  • the rope that’s tied onto the bow (front) that stops the vessel from moving sideways when moored.

  • a spar (wooden pole) projecting from the bow to support the forestay and other rigging.

  • when the boat is crosswise to the waves and water starts to come over the side, coming close to or actually capsizing.

  • vertical wall or partition separating areas or compartments on a boat.

  • the ship’s side that extends above the hull.

  • anchored float.

  • to let go of a line when leaving the dock or mooring.

  • a metal or wooden device to secure a line on a boat or a dock.

  • the raised edge of a hatchway to keep out water. It’s often a backrest for cockpit seating.

  • the location from which the boat is steered, usually in the stern. This is where the seating is as well.

  • a raised hatch with a ladder leading below deck.

  • the navigational instrument that shows North, South, East and West directions.

  • direction to which the boat is steered.

  • a sailing vessel with one mast and two headsails.

  • a lightweight, versatile, and high-efficiency fluke-style anchor, preferably used in easy, penetrable seabeds, except very fine sand.

  • a member of a ship’s crew whose duties involve the maintenance of a boat or ship.

  • a small open boat carried aboard a yacht for taking the crew ashore.

  • the canvas awning that provides some shelter to the cockpit and companionway.

  • the depth of a ship’s keel below the waterline.

  • when the vessel drifts without holding power in spite of being anchored.

  • a term used for repairs or when a ship is taken to dry land (boatyard) so that the submerged portions of the hull can be cleaned or inspected.

E-M

  • the period between high tide and low tide during which water flows away from the shore.

  • a nautical measure of depth or distance equal to six feet.

  • a bumper used in boating to keep boats from banging into docks or each other.

  • a flat slender walkway that branches out from a dock and divides two slips.

  • a jacket that provides the flotation you need to keep from drowning.

  • living quarters in the bow of a ship, usually consisting of two bunks on either side of the foremast and offering access to the anchor locker.

  • wave action that is traveling in the same direction as the boat.

  • in the direction of the keel, from front to back.

  • the most forward mast of a sailboat having tow or more masts.

  • the part in the cabin between the foremast and the bow, usually a cramped space for two berths.

  • the lowest sail set on the foremast of a square-rigged ship or schooner

  • entangled or clogged

  • the spar that holds the upper edge of a fore-and-aft sail.

  • fits around the mast’s lower end, thus allowing it to slew sideways or be topped up or down.

  • the boat’s kitchen.

  • a type of large tub or staysail that extends past the mast, overlapping the main sail when viewed from the side, used in moderate or light winds.

  • a metal ring fastened in a sail.

  • the line, or rope, used to raise the sail.

  • a vessel that has gone aground and is incapable of refloating under her own power.

  • an opening between the deck and the cabin, protected with a hatch cover.

  • the boat’s bathroom.

  • to stop a boat by turning the bow to the wind and holding it there. A boat stopped this way is hove to.

  • the lean caused by the wind’s force against the sails.

  • the steering mechanism controlling the rudder.

  • to haul aloft

  • the main body of the boat

  • a triangular sail at the front of the boat.

  • turning the boat so that the wind changes from one side to the other. It can swing the boom violently from one side the the other.

  • a makeshift repair, allowing the boat to be steered manually.

  • the weighted fin filled with lead ballast below the hull that helps to keep the boat upright.

  • a sailing vessel rigged fore and aft on two masts, the larger, forward one being the mainmast and the after one, stepped forward of the rudder post, being the mizzen or jigger

  • a nautical unit of speed: 6,076 feel or one nautical mile per hour.

  • the boat rail on the downwind side of the boat. The low rail.

  • the side of the boat furthest from the wind. When heeling over this will always be the low side.

  • on the deck of a boat, a line to which one can attach oneself to stay aboard on rough seas.

  • on board a boat, this is what you call ropes.

  • the line by which the log is trailed from a ship to determine its speed.

  • the forward most section of a sail.

  • the principal mast of a sailboat

  • the large sail just aft of the mainmast. As the name suggests it is a sailboat’s largest and most important sail. Along its bottom edge, the sail is fastened to a thick pole call a boom.

  • area of the ship in equal distance between the bow and stern.

  • a ball woven out of line used to provide heft to heave the line to another boat or dock.

  • to attach a boat to a mooring buoy or post.

  • putting the boat in a fixed position with a mooring ball secured to the sea floor.

N-Z

  • a unit used to measure distance at sea (approximately 2,025 yards).

  • steering a boat safely from one area to another aided by charts, radar GPS, and dead reckoning.

  • an anchorage that is in the lee of the land, but otherwise unprotected, so is subject to changing wind conditions and swells.

  • a small diameter line attached to the bow of a dinghy.

  • to let out a rope or cable by slacking.

  • the peak halyard (or peak for short) is a line that raises the end of a gaff that is farther from the mast; the throat halyard raises the end and is nearer to the mast. Such rigging was normal in classic gaff-rigged schooners and in other ships with fore-and-aft rigging.

  • is an anchor shaped like a farmer’s plow, with a long shank ending in two curved flukes. It performs well in sand, gravel, rocks, and coral, but not so well in soft mud or clay, where its smaller surface area may not provide adequate resistance.

  • the left side of the boat facing forward.

  • a single bunk tucked under the cockpit.

  • the outer edge of the deck.

  • rope ladders rigged from bulwarks to the topmast to enable easier access aloft.

  • to temporarily reduce the area of the sail exposed to the wind.

  • an anchorage with a strong swell that causes the boat to roll from side to side as much as twenty degrees is called rolly. Often found at open roadsteads.

  • located beneath the stern of the boat, the rudder is attached to the steering mechanism ( wheel).

  • required lights affixed to the craft that display the aspect of the vessel.

  • a sailboat with fore-and-aft rigging on all of two or more masts. On two-masted schooners, the mainmast is typically longer than the foremast.

  • when a boat can handle the conditions of the sea and is capable of safely sailing at sea.

  • to stow equipment and keep it from moving about the boat.

  • a U-shaped piece of metal with eyes in the end, connecting items together by a pin, spring, or bolt. Used in boating to secure an anchor, hold lines in place, etc.

  • a cruise performed during which the ship and her crew are tested under working conditions.

  • the line, or rope, that controls the horizontal movement of the sail.

  • vertical wires that hold the mast upright.

  • a one-masted sailboat with a fore-and-aft mainsail and a jib.

  • a unit of measurement for the depth of the water.

  • struts attached to the sides of a mast to hold away the shrouds and increase the angle at which they meet the mast.

  • lines that are additional morning lines, which prevent the boat from moving forward or aft.

  • a brief, sometimes violent storm that arrives suddenly

  • a vertical pipe or beam that supports the rails on the the deck.

  • the right side of the boat facing forward.

  • the rear part of the boat.

  • to change course by passing into the wind.

  • the rail around the stern of a ship.

  • the surface at the stern of the boat, where the boat’s name and port of origin are displayed.

  • when a craft is not moored, anchored, or docked but en route.

  • a track in the water left by the movement of the boat.

  • a period during which a crew member is on duty. We generally had four-hour watches on Heritage, except when the weather was bad or someone was sick.

  • a line painted on the hull of the boat where the boat meets the water.

  • A mechanism with gears and a handle, mounted at the bow to give a mechanical advantage to raising an anchor.

    Windward: The direction that the wind is coming from.

  • the mechanism, usually in the cockpit, that you use to tighten the sheets.

  • a mechanism with gears and a handle, mounted at the bow to give a mechanical advantage to raising an anchor.

  • the side or direction that the wind is coming from.

  • with a sail extended on each side, as with the foresail out on one side and the mainsail out on the other.